Ken quickly returned home, only to be met with his Dad's smiling face at the door.
"Go for your run, I'll still be here when you get back. I promise."
He looked amused, yet there was an underlying pride in his features.
Ken paused for a moment before running forward and embracing his father. Only after seeing him in person did he realize just how much that he'd missed him.
"Alright, I'll be back soon." He said before turning around and beginning his run.
"Don't slack off!" Chris yelled out after him.
Around an hour and a half later, 3 figures were sat around the dining table, tucking into a traditional Japanese breakfast.
"Ah man, I can't tell you how good it is to eat some Japanese food again." Chris exclaimed, shoveling in another mouthful of rice.
Ken looked at his mother who couldn't contain her happiness, a beaming smile painted on her face.
"How was America dad?"
"Meh it was alright. Nothing beats being at home though." He replied, before continuing to stuff his face.
A sly grin formed on Ken's face at those words.
"Ahem. You'll be spending a lot more time at home in the future, so you don't need to worry too much."
His words and the nonchalant tone that they were delivered in caused his father to raise an eyebrow in question. Yuki decided to leave the table in that moment, yet Ken didn't miss the hopeful look on her face before she did.
"Both Daichi and I won our prefectural tournaments, so we're going to Koshien this year."
Chris's eyes bulged as he almost choked on his food. Only after taking a large drink of water did he finally manage to breathe again normally.
"A-Ah how could I have forgotten. That's awesome news Kenny!"
He'd been so caught up in work that he'd been neglecting not only his wife, but his two boys also. Chris suddenly felt a wave of guilt, but he tried not to show it on his face in front of the two.
Ken nodded feeling a sense of pride strike him.
"And you know what that means right?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Chris replied.
Ken frowned. From his father's expression he could tell that Chris was earnest in his confusion, which likely meant he had forgotten about their promise.
"You said you would quit your job as the foreign adviser if I was able to win Nationals."
Although he was a little disappointed, he could empathize with his father. There would probably be a lot that would go into a job as lucrative as his.
Since he'd also been in the workforce before, he knew what it was like.
A look of realization finally dawned on his father's face, but it was replaced by a frown not long after.
"Look, Kenny…"
Before he could finish what he had to say, a sound of a plate falling into the sink interrupted them from the kitchen. They both turned to see Yuki's back which was trembling slightly.
"H-Hey honey, why don't you tell Ken the good news?" She said, changing the subject entirely.
Ken was a little confused and turned to his father suspiciously.
"Ah I almost forgot."
He reached into his pockets and produced a few pieces of paper and laid them out on the table.
"We're all heading to the Yokohama Warriors game later this afternoon."
"Oh nice!" Ken exclaimed excitedly.
He hadn't seen a professional game live since regressing. It would be great to try and compare his current play against the pro's and get an idea of how much he needed to improve.
"I got another few tickets, did you want to bring anyone along?" Chris asked curiously.
Before Ken got a chance to think about who he'd want to bring, his mother swooped in and snatched the tickets out of her husband's hands, startling the two.
"Let's invite your girlfriend and her family!"
Yuki's eyes were sparkling as she looked at Ken expectantly.
"Girlfriend?" Chris's eyebrow raised in question, looking to his son with surprise.
Ken felt his face redden as he tried to deny the accusation.
"We're just friends mom, don't make it weird."
However, he didn't mind the idea of going to a baseball game with Ai. He also wouldn't mind seeing her Tetsu squirm in front of his mother for the duration of the match.
Now that he thought of it, he never did figure out how they patched things up after his mom punched Tetsu in the face. However, this was not the time to think about such things.
"I'll call Naomi now~" She said with glee, skipping towards the landline phone.
As Ken let out a sigh after seeing how excited his mother was, he saw his father looking at him oddly while stroking his chin. His eyes were narrowed as he seemingly evaluated his son.
"You've grown…" He muttered.
There was a hint of sadness that flashed imperceptibly on his features before it returned to normal.
Chris felt guilty for having missed out on so much during his work trip. Not only had his son gone through a growth spurt, he was also starting to date girls, turning into a man while he was not present.
There was also the fact he hadn't seen his son play baseball since middle school, almost a full year ago to this day. He then remembered Ken's words about quitting his job and staying home, because he planned to become a professional baseball player.
He even went as far as claiming he'd win nationals, doubling down and forcing him to take those words seriously.
Yet he didn't even remember them until now, almost as if he took these words as a child's fanciful dreams. After all, only the best 49 teams could compete at Koshien every year out of 3000+ high schools.
The odds of qualifying for Koshien in a single-elimination format was already low enough, let alone winning against the best teams in Japan.
Now both of his sons would be competing at nationals, showing just how talented and resolved they were to go all the way.
'I guess I have a lot of thinking to do.' He thought inwardly.